Destiny Is What We Make It
by PoodleCharlie
Summary: Are Jarod and Miss Parker destined to live out thier fate? Or Can they change it? And who can they trust?... 12 is up! And it just might be the longest chapter yet: Enjoy!
1. A New Assistant and Spilled Chinese Food

She walked down the hallway leading to Miss Parker's office. Her steps were firm and appeared confident. Her straight blonde hair was pulled half-up in a professional looking clip, matching the business attire she wore. As the woman approached Miss Parker's office, all the looks of terror that Miss Parker's name evoked came flooding into her head. _Play it cool, Betty._ She reminded herself, as she placed her hand on the door handle of the dreaded woman's office. Her stomach did a flip. This was **the** Miss Parker she was about to meet. The one whose reputation alone could make grown men quiver.

Tightening her grasp on the folder she held in her other arm, Betty let out a ponderous breath and opened the door cautiously. When peering inside the office, however, she didn't see anyone. She stepped inside, noting the dim lighting and colorless appearance of the office. She wasn't really surprised, tough. It seemed to match the theme of the entire cooperation. A closer inspection failed to present anyone. If she was to be honest, she felt a little relieved that she wouldn't have to face the infamous Miss Parker so imminently.

"Hello?" she called out, "anyone home?" When no one answered, she decided to take a little look around, maybe learn a little about this Miss Parker that everyone spoke about wide-eyed. One step closer to the desk was she managed, as the door flew open.

Betty nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Morons!" she heard the woman who had come barging in exclaim. "How the hell could he have gotten away?! I led him directly to the two of you and all you did was let him saunter off like the cocky rat that he is!"

The woman looked angrily at the two men whom had followed her in as she spoke.

She was tall, lean and looked like she could be stunningly beautiful, if she only took that scowl off her face. Betty was certain that this was the Miss Parker she'd been sent to seek out.

An elderly man, one of the men who'd followed Miss Parker in, interrupted her tirade. "Miss Parker, we did not simply stand around making shapes out of the clouds as Jarod casually walked away."

Miss Parker whipped around and opened her mouth, apparently about to spit out another insolent comment at the men who had accompanied her in. She said nothing, though, merely closed her mouth and looked directly at Betty, clearly surprised to see someone in her office.

The feisty beauty straitened up and smoothed down the front of her jacket. "And who might you be?" she then asked haughtily.

Betty swallowed hard. All the time she'd spent preparing for this moment was suddenly forgotten. "I - uh - I'm" she crinkled her forehead as she attempted to answer the simple question that had just been asked. "My name- is- uh - it's Betty. My name's Betty." She stuttered out.

"And? You're here because…?"

Betty stood there awkwardly for a moment, biting her lip, when suddenly she remembered the file she was holding. "Um, I believe this is for you." She stated as she held out the file folder towards an annoyed looking Miss Parker.

She rolled her eyes and stepped toward Betty, snatching the folder out of the scared girl's hand. A slow look, up and down, made Betty feel even more uncomfortable. Miss Parker said nothing, as she opened the folder in her hand, glancing only slightly at its contents.

Betty mentally kicked herself for acting so stupidly. Granted, Miss Parker had surprised her, and was much more intimidating than she ever could have prepared for. Still, she shouldn't have allowed herself to stutter idiotically.

"So you've been assigned to my team." Miss Parker stated conversationally.

Both the older man and the nerdy looking one who seemed to be hiding behind him, looked up, clearly surprised at the statement.

Betty straitened up. "Yes, ma'am." she answered, "They felt that all the paperwork may be slowing down your field work."

Miss Parker nodded. "They who?"

Betty's expression quickly changed from nervous to confused. "Mr. Parker and the other higher ups" she tilted her head to the right, slightly "I thought you'd already been informed."

Miss Parker clenched her jaw, ensuring her facial expression remained hard.

Betty detected that the information had struck her hard and offered, "He probably came by earlier while you were out."

Miss Parker nodded slowly, the last thing she wanted was another incompetent Centre employee getting in her way. However, she knew, deep down, that when it come to Centre business, what she wanted, or didn't want, really didn't matter.

"If that's the case, then why don't we get you some paperwork to start on." Miss Parker smiled mischievously. She was not going to make this easy.

* * *

She unlocked the front door and stepped inside. Slipping off her shoes in the foyer, she passed through the sitting room and into the kitchen, where she placed the paper bag of Chinese food on the kitchen counter and began to unload its contents.

Just as she was pulling out a container of general tso's, the bottom corner got stuck on the rim of the bag, sending chicken and vegetables soaring through the kitchen.

"Ugh!" she growled, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Bad day at the office?" a male voice asked from behind.

Parker whipped around. "Jarod! You scared the hell out of me."

"Sorry."

"How long have you been here?"

"Not too long, only a few hours."

"Hours?" she narrowed her eyes, "You didn't rearrange all of the furniture again did you?"

He let out a slight chuckle, "No. I'm not crazy enough to do that more than once." He smiled childishly for a moment, reminiscing, before he remembered the spilled Chinese food. "What happened today?"

"Oh," she sighed, remembering her previous outburst, "Well, I got a new assistant today."

"A new assistant?"

"Yeah. Apparently she's 'in' with the 'higher ups', including my father."

Jarod looked up from the spilled Chinese food he was cleaning up off of the floor, "Your father?"

"Yep, apparently, he's the one who gave her the position." She shrugged. "I just find it a little odd that she's in with all the big guys and I've never even heard of her."

"That is kind of peculiar. Did she say why Mr. Parker sent her?"

"Something to do with paperwork distracting me from catching their pretender."

"If only that were true." Jarod broke out a devilish grin and she teasingly slapped his chest as she leaned toward him. He started to pull away, "Seriously though, Parker, should we be worried about this new girl?"

"Betty? I don't know how close she is with my father; she seems kind of innocent to be working for the Centre, to be honest. But I'm still going to keep an eye on her."

"No one is innocent there, Parker." He warned.

She knew just how right he was and she knew that there was more to this girl than met the eye. However, she just didn't get the creepy feeling around this girl that she got when she was in the presence of all the psychopaths she continually crossed paths with in the Centre.

"Just be careful, Parker, please." He pleaded.

It felt _really_ good to have someone that truly cared about her. "I will." Parker smiled sweetly as she leaned over and kissed him.


	2. Taking Stairs and Breaking Up

She was returning from a meeting with Mr. Parker, her dear old daddy.

He'd gone over his weekly spiel about how vital it was that bring in Jarod. How was it that he could make her feel so… so… guilty? Incompetent? She didn't want Jarod back in this hell hole anymore than he wanted to be back, but nonetheless, her father still had that effect on her.

He hadn't mentioned anything about Betty other than to ask if she was helping. Even then, instead of listening to Miss Parker's answer, he had just brushed it off. And when Miss Parker had tried to ask him about her, he had once again brushed off the question.

That made Miss Parker even more very skeptical of Betty's intentions.

Why was she here? Was she helping out her father? Hating the thought, but having it nonetheless, Parker wondered if the man could have some sort of 'plan' for Betty. One that Miss Parker wasn't supposed to know about. Maybe she was even working with Lyle! Or for Lyle! A spy working right under her nose!

Lost in thought, Miss Parker was almost at her office, when Betted stepped out into the hallway just in front of her. The girl, engrossed in the file she was reading, did not spot Miss Parker and was now walking directly ahead of her.

Miss Parker, wondering where Betty was headed, decided to go on a little trip. She slowed down her pace, so as not to be detected, and started to walk in step with her assistant, far enough behind her so that the girl didn't notice, but not far enough to loose her. With every hallway they turned down and every flight of stairs they climbed, Miss Parker became more and more intrigued.

Who took the stairs anyhow? Why didn't she just take the elevator, like a normal person?

Finally, they reached the cooperate offices and Betty slipped the file she'd been reading on top of a stack of files and turned to leave. As soon as Miss Parker was sure Betty had left, she walked up to that same stack of files and casually opened the one Betty had just been reading.

Glancing at its contents, Miss Parker realized the mistake she'd made and began to feel extremely stupid. It was simply a memo she herself had told Betty to type and drop off. Annoyed, she tossed the file haphazardly on top of the stack, which she'd just retrieved it from.

Feeling disappointed, and a little idiotic, Miss Parker winded back down the corridors, making sure to take the elevators this time, towards her office.

Upon arriving at the hallway just down from the office in question, she spotted Betty, a bit down the hall, talking to someone who looked a lot like…

_Mr. Lyle?_

Quickly, Miss Parker ducked into the nearest entryway, not wanting to be detected by the two. Realizing, too late, that she was just out of earshot, Parker almost moved closer. She stopped, though, when she spotted Lyle running his hand down Betty's back and giving her rear a little _squeeze_.

Thoroughly disgusted, Miss Parker stepped out of the shadows and began strutting down the corridor toward the pair, ready to freeze the pants off 'em. What happened next surprised her. Betty grabbed Lyle's arm, twisting it around its socket, to the point where Lyle winced. Miss Parker stopped dead it her tracks.

"Do you want to keep those other four fingers?" Betty demanded.

Lyle didn't answer.

Disgusted, "Do you?!" Betty demanded once more, as she twisted his arm around a little further.

Lyle tried to jerk his arm out of her grasp at the same instant she let go, causing him to stumble backwards.

"Touch me again." She warned as Lyle walked away he grinned maniacally at the blonde.

As Betty turned to walk into the office, she spotted Miss Parker, who quickly straightened up, mechanically, upon Betty's gaze. Betty offered her a slight smile, then looked down, as if ashamed, and stepped out of the hallway.

Most people wouldn't stand up to Lyle, let alone someone working with him. If she had been working with Lyle, or for him, there would be no way she'd had the gall to stand up to him like that.

Miss Parker found herself speechless; she must have had Betty all wrong.

* * *

She sat on the edge of her bed, waiting. He would be here soon, she knew. She hated waiting, abhorred it, actually. It was on her list of her top five least favorite things. Tonight, it seemed so much worse.

There could not - NO_, _there _would _not - be another day like today.

They had come to close to capturing Jarod. She wouldn't be able to live with herself knowing that she'd put him back there, even unwillingly. She knew they didn't suspect her of missing him on purpose, or she wouldn't be here right now, however, if she came that close and missed again, she wouldn't have another chance.

They would see to it.

"Hey, stranger." He teased as he leaned against the door frame to her bedroom.

She looked up and gave a half smile.

"Not even going to taunt me about the terrible cliché?"

"Today was too close." She warned.

"Parker - I - they- they didn't catch me." He closed the space between them and touched her arm. "I'm okay, see?"

"It was too close." She repeated as she stepped back.

"They've come close before."

"Not like this." She slammed her hand down on the nightstand next to her, "I had to shoot at you, damn-it."

"I'm just lucky you have good aim." He took a step closer.

Flattery would not work on her this time. The only thing worse than not having him, would be to have him and then loose him. She took a step back. This was going to kill her. "No Jarod, it _can't_ happen again."

Pain flickered in his eyes, and then quickly turned to confusion. "What are you saying?" his voice came out slightly accusatory. She took in a sharp breath. There was no going back. She motioned her hand back-and-forth between them. "_We_ can never be."

For a moment he just stood there, shocked. "Wh-what?" he stammered.

"Jarod, you don't have to be a part of this. I'm trapped here, there is no way out for me. But you! You can leave, you can get away from them. Leave Jarod, don't come back here."

He stiffened; she was serious. "Fine," he stated, "but I'm only going, if you come with me."

She dropped her head as he let out a deep breath. She had suspected such a suggestion, had predicted it actually, but she hadn't thought it would be _this _hard to turn him down.

"Jarod, I think we both know that that's not really possible."

He felt the anger rise within, threatening to escape. The panic… he couldn't loose her. "So, all of those times that we planned to get out of here, you were never serious." His voice had become harsh "You never meant any of it."

"That's not true!" she shot back. Her emotions were getting out of control. She took in a deep, calming breath. "I meant all of those things. At the time, I truly believed that it was possible."

"Then what changed?" he demanded.

"Please, Jarod," she pleaded, "don't make this harder than it is."

"No, Parker! I will not loose you!"

She looked him dead in the eye and, for a moment, he saw hesitation in hers, but it was gone too fast. "I'm already gone." She stated flatly.

It was for the best, she decided. He'd be better with someone else, someone whom he could build a life with and not have to meet in secret. They both had too many damn secrets.

But he could still escape them.

She could not.

Jarod stood there another moment. Was this really happening? He couldn't imagine life without sneaking into her house, being with her. He wanted to protest, to beg, to plead, but knew it would be futile. She'd already made up her mind.

He turned and walked down the stairs. There were no sweepers tonight, he'd checked beforehand, and he was glad because tonight he didn't think he'd have it in him to fight them. He walked out the front door and looked around. Nope, no one.

He began to jog, down the street, away from her. He didn't really feel anything as he quickened his pace, turning it, almost, into a full-out sprint. He didn't think, as he continued to run, numbly, though the dark, suburban streets.


	3. Going Home Sick and Finding a Friend

As each day passed it became more and more difficult for Miss Parker to get out of bed. She simply didn't feel like going through every mundane routine anymore, she even contemplated not wearing make-up a couple of times. She felt confident that her decision had been for the best, but why did it have to hurt so damn much?

She kept to herself most days now, throwing herself into whatever work she could find, not leaving much for Betty to do. Most mornings she would go into her office, passing Betty and not saying so much as a word and would work until around seven or eight, long after most people had gone home. She'd instructed Betty to tell anyone that came by that she was not to be disturbed.

Betty was doodling on a piece of paper when she looked up, just in time, to see Miss Parker vomit into the waste basket beside her desk. "Uh-oh" was all Betty said as she scurried into Miss Parker's office and instinctively pulled back her hair.

After a few minutes Miss Parker ceased to throw-up all over her day's trash. Not knowing what else to say, Betty asked, "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Miss Parker snapped. She grabbed the waste basket and began to stand up when a wave of dizziness stuck, and she had to grab the desk to steady herself.

"Clearly not." Betty retorted, as she picked up her keys out of her bag. "I'll drive you home."

"I'm not going home." Parker stated. She leaned over to place the heinous smelling trash can on the ground, when the dizziness came back, with ferocity.

Seeing Miss Parker nearly fall out of her chair, she persisted, "Stop being so obstinate and let me take you home, you're not getting any work done like this."

Miss Parker contemplated the idea for a moment. Betty was right, she wasn't getting anything done, and it's not like she goes home sick all the time, but she really didn't want to go to her house, not if he wasn't going to be there. She closed her eyes for a moment, debating.

"Come on." Betty coaxed, taking a step in the direction of the door.

Knowing Betty wasn't about to get off her case, she agreed to leave, "but I'm perfectly capable of driving myself."

Satisfied that she was at least going home, Betty dropped her keys back into her purse and put her hands up in defeat.

Miss Parker gathered her things and started walking toward the exit, but then stopped and slowly turned around. She looked thoroughly at Betty and started to say something but quickly closed her mouth.

She'd wanted to thank her, her mind screamed it, loud and clear, but she just couldn't bring herself to voice it. She simply nodded and turned to leave, hoping, that somehow, her message had been received.

* * *

Miss Parker readjusted her sunglasses as she pulled into a parking place outside the drug store. She'd been on her way home, when the thought popped into her head; was there a chance that she could be pregnant? _No. There's no way, it's not possible_. She tried to convince herself, _Okay, so maybe it's a little bit possible_, but how on earth was she supposed to go into that store?

She looked around to make sure there weren't any sweepers, or anyone from the Centre that might recognize her. She didn't see anyone. She readjusted her sunglasses, once again, and took a deep breath before stepping out of her car.

Once out of the car, Miss Parker walked briskly down the isles, not stopping until she'd located the pregnancy tests. _Shit. There are a lot of different kinds_. She quickly started grabbing as many as she could, for the sake of getting out quickly, and headed to the checkout.

She couldn't believe she was doing this. She dumped them all on the counter, but couldn't look the cashier in the eye. When the cashier gave her the total, she handed over a hundred dollar bill, saying "keep the change" as she grabbed the bag and rushed out the door.

* * *

That afternoon, after Miss Parker had left, Betty decided that after work, she would go check on her. She really hadn't looked well when she'd left and Betty was concerned about her.

Betty pulled into the drive outside Miss Parker's house, armed with chicken noodle soup and ginger ale. As she approached the door, she wondered if she had many visitors here, and assumed that she probably didn't.

The girl rang the bell and patiently waited for an answer. When there wasn't one, she decided to knock; maybe the bell didn't work, although she doubted that. After no one came, she tried the door and found it unlocked.

Betty stepped inside the find a very red-eyed Miss Parker lying on the sofa. Betty sighed. "I brought you some soup." She announced as she stepped closer.

Miss Parker jumped. "How'd you get in here?"

"The door was unlocked… no one answered… I…" she trailed off, for some reason, when she had barged in her home, she had forgotten that this Miss Parker was scary.

"How do you know where I live?"

"Oh...uh, Sydney, uh, told me. I told him I wanted to check on you, after you left, ya know, and he, uh, told me where you live and to call him if you needed anything."

Miss Parker, too tired to analyze what Betty had just said, simply nodded her head, an action she immediately regretted.

Betty stood there, awkward for a moment, before remembering what was in her hands. "Would you like some soup?" She offered, once more.

"I'm not really hungry."

"Oh, okay. How about some ginger ale? It's supposed to help when you have an upset stomach."

Miss Parker shifted her eyes around the room for a minute. At this point she was almost willing to try anything to get rid of the nausea. "Sure." She finally whispered.

Betty went and grabbed a glass, poured some of the soda into it, and handed it to Miss Parker, who took it readily.

"You wanna talk about it?" Betty suggested.

"Not really"

They sat in silence for a while before Miss Parker finally asked, "Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Taking care of me, when you don't even know what's wrong with me."

Betty shrugged. "I dunno, 'cause you're my friend, I guess."

That wasn't the answer Miss Parker had expected to hear, but she let the idea weigh for a moment. "My Friend" she whispered, almost inaudibly, testing it out. "But I don't know anything about you."

"What do you want to know?"

"Well, what are your parents like? Why do you always take the stairs and not the elevator? Why do you work for the Centre?"

Betty let out a small laugh. "I knew someone had been following me. I used to work, part-time, as a personal trainer. I taught my clients little shortcuts; like take the stairs, not the elevator, to park further away and walk, to sit up strait and not rest your back on the back of the seat, when you drive, that kinda thing.

"As far as parents go, I never really knew my mom and my Dad died when I was just a teenager. And working for the Centre? It's just a job; it doesn't pay too bad, either."

Wow.

Miss Parker was almost impressed with her willingness to share, but she was still puzzled. "I've never even been nice to you."

"You haven't ever really been mean either, at least, not like you are to people you don't like."

She guessed that was true. "I'm sorry about your dad."

Betty smiled, she recognized the gesture, "Thank you, luckily I was fortuned enough to have a real nice family take me in."

The silence came once again as they sat and Miss Parker, once more, felt the hot burn of the tears, threatening to fall. She couldn't hold it in any longer; she had to tell someone.

"I'm pregnant."


	4. An Imposter and Seeking a Pretender

She'd only been in her office about twenty minutes when dear ol' dad showed up, entering with, "How's my angel?"

Her throat felt swollen and her eyebrows became very tense the moment she'd heard his voice. The last thing she wanted to do was talk to him right now. It was hard enough to face him, knowing that she was seeing Jarod behind his back. But now that she was pregnant with the pretender's child, she really didn't know if she could face him. Before turning to him, she plastered on a smile. It was clearly fake; Mr. Parker didn't notice, or just didn't care.

"Hello Daddy. What brings you here?"

His demeanor feigned innocence. "Just here to check on my angel."

They both knew that was not true. He looked at her intently, if she didn't know any better he appeared to be sizing her up. She suddenly felt self-conscious, he couldn't notice, could he?

"What's the latest in the Jarod search?" he probed.

Hell, who was she kidding? He didn't notice that she had gained three, maybe four pounds. He probably wouldn't notice if she gained 500 lbs.

She tried to sound sincere, "Well, we haven't hit anything promising recently. However, I'm sure that we'll find something in no time, now that I have my new secretary."

"Ah, the new secretary, how is she?"

"She's been more than helpful."

"Good. Glad to hear it. I knew that you hadn't asked for an assistant, but her father is an associate of mine and he called in a favor…"

He continued on, but when he mentioned Betty's father, it set off alarm bells. Hadn't she mentioned that her father had died?

The door opened to Miss Parker's office, and who else would walk in, but Betty herself.

"Speak of the Devil." Miss Parker voiced, smoothly.

"Talking about me?" Betty teased.

Mr. Parker looked at the girl, slightly confused. "This is Betty." Miss Parker offered, when the confusion didn't disappear.

"Ah, Betty!" he exclaimed, although a blind man could see that the light bulb hadn't actually clicked.

"My assistant." She practically spat.

"Your assistant?" Mr. Parker repeated incredulously. He thought for a moment and then, "You aren't the girl that met with me in my office."

Betty looked like a deer caught in the headlights. All she could think was 'Shit. Shit, shit, shit!'

Miss Parker's jaw dropped, literally. It may not have been gaping, but it was no longer closed.

Before anyone could do anything Betty was grabbing her large black tote/purse and started sprinting down the hallway in one swift motion.

She didn't even look back as she broke into an all out sprint. About to turn into another hallway she felt the wind as a bullet, from one of the sweeper's guns, soared past her ear. As she took every twist and turn in the corridor, the running girl was surprised she hadn't been hit yet.

Spoke too soon.

Her entire body lurched forward and she knew she'd been hit, but she couldn't stop. She knew if she did, she would surely die. She continued running, through the glass double doors in the front of the grey, steely building, which swung open wildly, she ran across the hot asphalt outside and did not stop until she reached the cover of the forest, miles from the Centre.

* * *

"All right! I admit it! I killed him! He was going to expose me for stealing the money! Please, Jarod, get me out of here!" pleaded the middle-aged man from the inside of a green sedan, as he tried frantically to open the door, to no avail.

"Yeah. You see, I don't think I'm going to be able to do that." Jarod informed the man, while standing just a few feet from the passenger window.

"And why not?!"

"Because I'm not really a locksmith." He shrugged as he turned, abandoning the car in the middle of a field. By the time he reached the cover of the nearest buildings, the wailing of the sirens could already be heard as they approached the car.

As soon as he was sure that the cops had found the evidence he'd left, Jarod darted into a dusty alley between two old buildings.

_Clap, clap, clap._

Rang out through the silence. Startled, Jarod jumped and instinctively turned to his right, only to find a petite blonde sitting atop a discarded table. "That was quite a show, Jarod."

The woman sitting atop the table wore a sharp business suit and some very pointed heels, some what reminiscent of Miss Parker's personal style. Jarod scoffed as he thought, 'This has the Centre written all over it.'

The thought of running crossed his mind. She didn't look like she carried a gun. Upon closer scrutiny, he realized that she was sweating profusely. Granted, it was hot out, but not that hot. Her face also looked very pale and her knuckles were beginning to turn white due to her death grip on the rotting table.

He couldn't just leave her there.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

The girl smiled, though it looked pained. "My name is Betty."

_Betty_. Why did that sound so familiar? Wait! Wasn't that the name of Miss Parker's new assistant?

"What do you want?" He crossed his arms and held her gaze.

"I have some information I thought you should have." She said evenly, a silver DSA shinning from her raised hand.

His first instinct was to take the DSA. What if there was information about his parents? As he begun to take a step forward, he stopped himself. That night, by leaving Parker's house, he'd made a decision to cut the Centre out of his life for good. The disk meant, defiantly, that the Centre would be involved. He wouldn't be falling into that again.

"Thanks, but I'm not interested. Sorry."

"Not even if said information concerned Miss Parker?"

His head snapped up, eyes wide. The thought hadn't crossed his mind. He'd just assumed it would be information pertaining to him. Could she be in danger? He needed to know. "What've you got?"

Betty got up off the table, with every intention of walking towards him, but her knees buckled and gave out beneath her. A slight whimper escaped her lips, as she collapsed.


	5. New Objective and A Revelation

"I want every available Centre operative looking for this…Betty. If that's even her real name." Mr. Parker's voice boomed throughout his office.

"I can help you, Daddy." Miss Parker offered.

"No, Angel. I understand you want to help, however, you have to remember, finding Jarod is more important."

"But, Daddy-"

He waved his hand through the air, cutting off her sentence. "Not another word, the search for Jarod is vital."

Miss Parker breathed out. There was no arguing with him.

Mr. Parker turned to face the other men standing in his office. "This girl knows too much information pertaining to the Centre. I want her brought in."

The men and Miss Parker all nodded in agreement before they were escorted out of the office.

'_Damn right that girl knows too much._' Miss Parker thought as she headed toward the elevators. Why did she so stupidly trust Betty? She's been able to keep all of her past emotional turmoil out of other people's hair until now. There's no telling what could happen if Betty leaked information about her and Jarod, or their baby, to anyone from the Centre.

No. That wasn't going to happen.

She was determined to find that girl before anyone else could.

Miss Parker heard the _ding_ of the elevator, bringing her out of her reverie. She stepped out of the elevator and into the corridor, where she strode with determination toward the offices. Before she was able to reach her destination, however, Sydney stepped forward, blocking her path in the hallway.

"Miss Parker, is it true that Betty was not really supposed to be here?"

"Has the gossip train been going around this morning?"

Sydney brushed off Miss Parker's harsh remark, as he typically did. "Do you think she could be dangerous?"

"To who? You?"

"Miss Parker, she knows where you live."

"Yeah, no thanks to you, Freud."

"What are you talking about?"

"_You_ gave the little snitch my address."

Sydney's expression quickly changed from confused to stunned. "Miss Parker, I did not give Betty your address." The old man could practically see the steam emanating from Miss Parker's ears as she stormed off, leaving him alone in the walkway, confused still.

Miss Parker headed briskly to Broots' desk, which, upon approaching, she covered with both hands, leaning forward to look the technician square in the eye. "I want you to drop whatever you're doing and find her." Miss Parker growled.

"Betty?"

"No. Amelia Airheart."

Broots looked a little hurt, but shifted some papers around his desk and began typing away on his computer. Miss Parker hadn't really meant to snap at him, it just happened so easily. Straightening, she sighed heavily. "Broots, I just need to find her before anyone else from the Centre does."

Broots looked up to see light blue eyes staring pleadingly at him. They held eye contact for only a moment. Then Miss Parker dropped her head and just about whispered, "She just knows too much."

Rather disarmed by her unusual behavior and sympathetic to his boss' request, as he always was, no matter the danger to his personal health and sanity, Broots placed his hand on Miss Parker's arm, in a reassuring gesture. "Don't worry, Miss Parker, we'll find her."

* * *

"So, How'd you get shot?" Jarod inquired, conversationally.

Betty blinked a couple of times and glanced at her surroundings. She was laying on a crème colored sofa in a dimly lit room that was minimally furnished. She would have scrutinized the room further but a sudden pang in her head got her attention. "Mmmmm." She moaned as she tightly shut her eyes. Using her thumb and her forefinger she applied pressure to the bridge of her nose.

Seeing that she was in pain, Jarod got up and walked across the room to where a bottle of aspirin lay on a table. He spoke casually to Betty. "I brought you here after you passed out, then I took the bullet out and stitched you up while you were out. You'll probably be sore for the next week or so."

He handed her a couple of pills, along with a glass of water, which she took readily.

"How'd you get shot?" he repeated, bluntly.

"Running from the Centre." She informed him impassively. Jarod furrowed his brow, dissatisfied with such simplistic answer. "I tried to impersonate a Centre employee. It was a good plan, 'till I got caught."

"Why?"

"They found out I wasn't supposed to be there."

Jarod rolled his eyes. He had no desire to play games. "I meant, why'd you try to impersonate a Centre employee?"

She looked around the dingy room once more. She supposed it was time to show him the disk. '_Oh no! The disk!'_ she panicked. "My bag!" she exclaimed, wide-eyed.

Seeing that she was freaking out, he calmly retrieved the large black bag that she'd left sitting on the table.

"You looked in it, didn't you?" she accused.

"I had to make sure you weren't armed, but I didn't watch any of them." Betty narrowed her eyes. "Look, what I have on my DSA's are my business and I wouldn't feel comfortable if someone else went through them without giving me a chance to explain them."

"That's very noble of you, Jarod. However, there is _one_ that I would like to show you."

"The one that you were holding in the alley?" he inquired as he picked up a single DSA off of the end table and held it up for Betty to see.

"That's the one." she conceded.

And with that he quickly got up and retrieved his DSA player, setting it up on the coffee table, in front of the couch, so that they could both see it. Just before he placed the disk into the player, he paused, looking over his shoulder at Betty.

She nodded, letting him know that it was okay, though she sure didn't look sure of that.

Although he hadn't been entirely sure what to expect, the pretender hadn't even considered seeing Miss Parker's face appear on the screen, looking directly at him. For a moment, he wondered if it was Catherine Parker before him, but quickly discarded that thought when he realized that the disk was in color.

He took in a deep breath, not having been ready for that, but mesmerized by the image before him, nonetheless. He simply could not look away.

The Miss Parker on the screen began to speak, "Jarod? It's me, Parker. I know that you're probably not too happy to hear from me right now, but there are some things I need to say, so...please, just hear me out. Okay?

"Remember when I told you that leaving together wasn't possible? Well, I was wrong. I was just so afraid... so afraid of loosing you." It was clearly visible that Miss Parker was trying to fight back tears, "but I still lost you."

She hung her head down so that all the camera could see clearly was the top of her dark hair and covered her face with trembling hands. Parker took in a few slow breaths before she dropped her hands and picked her head back up.

Jarod felt his heart constrict.

She looked solemnly at the camera. "Jarod, there are some things, things that have happened, things that only Tempus can help us with now. Please Jarod, just trust Betty… she's gunna help us.

"I miss you. And I know I don't say it enough, but I love you." She then kissed her hand and pressed it to the glass. All too soon, the screen faded into nothingness, leaving Jarod with too many questions and almost no answers.

* * *

A/N: I would like to take this opportunity to thanks my beta, Mary, whom has helped me ever so much.

Also, I would like to thank those of you who have reviewed. I do appretiate them, reviews, along with Mary, are what motivate me to pursure this story further. If you have any questions or concerns, dont hesitate to contact me:) TTFN.


	6. Tempus and Part of a Plan Untold

I was having some technical difficulties with this chapter, I believe they have been fixed. If there's still a problem let me kno, because I was unaware that there was a problem for almost a week. So, sorry about that... Hope you enjoy and thanks for all your reviews, you guys are great:) -Charlie

* * *

"Mr. Broots, I need to ask you a favor ." Sydney announced as he walked into the tech's office.

"Uh, okay." Broots answered uncomfortably. He was supposed to be looking for Betty and if Miss Parker found out he was doing anything else... Well, it would be bad, but he couldn't turn down Sydney, either. The bald man sighed. "What do you need?"

"Anything you can find on Tempus."

"Tempus?"

"What the hell's Tempus?" a female voice came out of the shadows, startling them both. Sydney and Broots looked up from the computer's screen to find Miss Parker standing in the entryway, arms crossed.

Sydney smiled like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He hadn't wanted to tell Miss Parker about Tempus until he knew what it meant. Maybe not even then.

"Well?" she demanded, anger marring her features.

It looked as if he didn't have much of a choice, though. "We don't know exactly, Miss Parker," Sydney started, "but Jarod seems to think it maybe some sort of project that the Centre has been working on."

Miss Parker felt like she'd just had the wind knocked out of her. Jarod... Too many emotions running at once through her mind and she suddenly didn't feel so well. Starting to sway, she reached out, grabbing Sydney's forearm to steady herself.

"Miss Parker, are you alright?" Sydney asked, concerned.

"Yeah. I'm fine." She snapped; very in character. She didn't let go of Sydney's arm, however. Noticing that she was tense, he waited a moment, watching her. Seeing her remain unsteady, he suggested, "Maybe you should sit down."

Ordinarily, she would have been disinclined to heed his advice, probably adding one of her best disparaging remark. This was, however, no ordinary moment. She knew she really needed to sit down, or fall. Parker held tightly to Sydney's arm as he guided her to a nearby couch. He eased himself onto the couch, alongside her.

Miss Parker took a few slow breaths, attempting to get her head to stop spinning, then quickly changed to subject to avoid questions she had no intention of answering. She directed her question toward Broots, knowing that he wouldn't have the gall to inquire about her personal matters. "So what exactly does Franken-boy wants to know?"

"He wants to know a-about Tempus."

"Right," she remembered, "and you mentioned his idea that it was some sort of project."

"Actually, Sydney said that."

Miss Parker glared at him.

"But yeah, th-that's what he said."

Sydney chimed in, "If it is a Centre Project, it's either top secret and/or relatively new, because I've never heard of it."

"Well, that narrows it down." Miss Parker retorted.

"Tempus is Latin for time." Broots offered.

Two heads slowly turned to face the technician.

Miss Parker was the first to speak. "Broots, I didn't know that you spoke Latin."

He shrugged, "I had to take a foreign language in high school."

"Time." Sydney stated, ponderously.

There was a moment of silence, filled with the three's contemplations. What would the Centre need time for. It couldn't possibly be good.

Broots wondered allowed, "Hey, you think Betty knew something about Tempus? You think that's why she was here?"

Miss Parker hadn't considered that, but, knowing the Centre, she wasn't willing to rule out the possibility. She decided to go through Betty's things once more with a new perspective in mind. "There's only one way to find out." Miss Parker declared as she stood up, letting go of Sydney's arm and briskly heading out of the office.

Sydney lightly touched the place on his arm, which now felt cool against thin air. He simply could not figure her out. The last time she'd openly allowed his comfort, her mother had just died. Now, he could not fathom why she was acting so strange. The past month or so she'd been acting more hostile than usual, hadn't been feeling well, and in the past few minutes she'd seemed almost needy, which was _very_ unlike her.

* * *

"I still don't understand. Why would Miss Parker have sent you? If she knew where I was why didn't she just come herself?" Jarod had been grilling Betty for the past couple of days, suspicion and curiosity waging war within him. Ever since he'd watched the DSA, he couldn't help but ask question after question, in an endless succession. Betty was getting a little sick of it.

"Someone should revoke your MENSA card." She spat back at him.

Jarod cocked his head slightly to one side, reminding Betty of a puppy. She shook her head. "For the hundredth time… Miss Parker, clearly, couldn't drag the cavalry along to discuss her relationship problems. And she can't very well just disappear, it would look too suspicious. However, since the Centre is already looking for me it only makes sense that I would go missing, therefore, not suspicious."

Jarod thought contemplatively for a moment. How could she have found him without the Centre figuring out where he is? Or that she was with him for that matter. There had to be more to the story. "You still haven't told me why you…how did you say it? … tried to 'impersonate a Centre employee'."

Betty sighed. "It was just part of the plan."

"A plan for what?"

"Jarod, that's really a question you should ask Par- I mean, Miss Parker."

"You're evading the question."

Betty shrugged her shoulders. She could tell that Jarod was getting irritated with her, but she couldn't just come out and tell him the plan, it would all be revealed in Time. She looked at him sympathetically, "It's just not my place to answer that question right now."

Jarod couldn't quite put all the pieces together. It was becoming clear, though, that some of those pieces were missing and some just didn't fit. "Are you saying that Parker was in on this?"

'_Stay as close to the truth as possible._' Betty reminded herself. "She helped me forge some paperwork."

Jarod was having a hard time believing her story. "Why?"

"Like I said, Jarod, these are all questions you should ask her, when you see her."

Jarod sighed heavily as he stopped pacing and slowly pulled up a chair, seating himself across from the sofa, where Betty was now propped up against.

She caught his eye. His expression looked forlorn. "I don't know if I can go back, Betty."

"What?! Why?!" she demanded angrily. She would have jumped up, if the piercing pain in her right shoulder hadn't prevented her from doing so. She was so ill equipped to play shrink.

He didn't even flinch when Betty fell back into the couch. He was looking down at his hands, which where clasped together, elbows resting on his knees. He spoke in a calm voice. "She asked me to leave. Maybe I don't know much about love, but I feel that you should give the person that you love whatever they want, no matter how much it hurts you. And the last time I saw her, she made it perfectly clear that she had no desire for me to be around any longer."

This was ludicrous! Betty knew she shouldn't be raising her voice at him, he was clearly upset, but how could he do this to her?

"Did you not watch that DSA? Parker made it plain as day that she had made the wrong choice, she wanted you to come home."

"I know, but-" he stopped.

"But what, Jarod?!"

He didn't answer.

Betty took in a breath, attempting to compose herself. This time she didn't yell at him, she advised him in a calm tone. "Go see her. Find out once and for all whether or not she wants to be with you."

He looked up, into her eyes, once more.

"You want to be with her, I can see it in your eyes." She stated. She could now also see, for the first time, that he was truly afraid that Miss Parker would not allow him back into her life.

He was not a very smart genius, after all.

"Trust me, Jarod. She wants you to go to her. She wants you to go home."

Hope flickered across his face.


	7. Low Budget and A Plausible Theory

The tech paced his office; occasionally scratching the little hair there was left as he tried to reel the information through his mind. He was pretty sure he knew who was behind Tempus. The why and the what of the project, on the other hand, Broots had not the slightest clue. He had still come up empty handed on Betty; there were no records on her, and there was nothing to indicate her whereabouts.

He continued to pace, anticipating Miss Parker's arrival. She hadn't been by in a while and that fact alone was making him anxious. He just hoped the little information he could give would be enough to keep her calm and not anger her further. One could understand her eagerness to find Betty, but her behavior lately… well, it had been erratic, at best.

Looking up, he nearly jumped out of his skin. There was Miss Parker, standing directly in front of him. He could see a small smile play on the corner of her mouth, upon seeing him jump. He hoped that meant she was in a good mood.

"Miss Parker, I think I may have found something on Tempus. It's nothing big, but it's something-"

As usual, she wanted the information, not the biography behind it. "Out with it, Broots."

"Oh, okay. Well, um, I started by hacking into Mr. Raines computer. I came across some messages and memos that mentioned Tempus, but there wasn't enough there to prove that he even has anything to do with it, just that he knows about it.

"But, realizing that most of these messages had come from Mr. Lyle, I checked his computer next and files about Tempus started popping up everywhere."

At this, Miss Parker's eyes lit up with excitement and for a moment she reminded him of a small child, enthralled by a story. "What did you find?" she prodded.

Broots face showed his nervousness. "That's it."

She was suddenly Miss Parker again. "It?"

"That's all I had time for without someone noticing that I was on."

"So you didn't actually _read_ any of it?"

"Well, no. I just tagged the word 'Tempus' and looked for any results containing it.

"So there's nothing else?" she demanded angrily.

"Actually, I did check some of Lyle's monetary transactions. And if Tempus is his project, which I'm pretty sure it is, it's a very low-budget one."

Miss Parker nodded. She recalled the day she'd seen Betty interacting with Lyle in the hallway. Maybe it had something to do with Tempus? "Did you find anything in Lyle or Raines computers on Betty?"

Broots hadn't been expecting that question. He's hoped she wouldn't even bring her up, but there was no such luck. "No. There really hasn't been anything on Betty. There are no records of her on the Centre mainframe and there aren't any promising leads in any of the police data bases. It's kinda weird, ya know, it's like the girl doesn't even exist."

Miss Parker nodded distantly. She was worried, knowing Betty would have to resurface sometime. She unconsciously placed a hand over her stomach, pressing lightly. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.

Parker knew she had to get out of the Centre before anyone figured her pregnancy out. She was also aware that time was quickly running out. She couldn't shake the feeling of foreboding at that fact.

"Miss Parker, is your ulcer bothering your?" Broots asked, snapping her back to reality.

She quickly dropped her hand to her side. "Uh, yes." She lied. Truthfully, her ulcer hadn't been bothering her, even though she hadn't been taking her medication. "Do you think there's anyway you could get more information on this Tempus from Lyle?" She asked, wanting to change the subject fast, before Broots could get any more suspicious.

Broots shrugged. "I guess so. Seeing as how it's an inexpensive project, it'll probably be pretty low-security as well."

"Then do it." She demanded, then made her way toward the exit without giving him a chance to respond.

* * *

Miss Parker made her way into the foyer of her house. Her briefcase tapped against the wood flooring as she set it down, echoing against the silence. Otherwise, the house was quiet. It had been dark outside for sometime and too many shadows crowded the room. She peeled off her overcoat and hung it on the wall hanger.

A deep voice broke the stillness. "Staying late at the office again?"

She nearly jumped out of her skin, whipping around to face the dark sitting room, adjacent to where she was standing. She recognized that voice.

Jarod stepped out of the darkness. He held his hands in the air, even with his face, palms facing forward. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded angrily.

His expression puzzled. "I missed you." He answered honestly.

She felt a slight pang of regret seeing how her words had hit him, but she'd asked him to leave. He'd agreed. She rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe that he thought he could just waltz back into her life, just like that. He was unbelievable!

_Wait. _

Glancing over Jarod's shoulder, she noticed someone standing behind him. While her right arm reached back for her gun, the other pushed Jarod out of her way. In one swift move, she stepped forward and thrust her gun into Betty's chest, just above the sling she was wearing.

"You told him!" she accused, practically screaming. She was furious. "Of all the people you could have told! You could have gotten graces back with the Centre with news like that! But you went to… to him?"

"Told Jarod what?" Jarod interrupted.

Betty took in a deep breath, trying to compose herself, which proved difficult because she really didn't like guns, especially after what happened last time she was around them. Her gaze shifted from the gun, which remained pressed to her chest, to Jarod's concerned expression, to Miss Parker's eyes, which were desperately trying to conceal the obvious hurt she felt. Ignoring Jarod, Betty locked her gaze with Miss Parker's and felt the gun press further into her sternum.

Betty tried to act calm and collected, but her voice betrayed her and came out shaky. "Yes, I told him about Tempus."

Miss Parker's expression hadn't changed, but Jarod's jaw had visibly dropped. Betty hadn't told him a word about Tempus, so why was she telling Parker that she had?

Parker lowered her gun. So, Betty hadn't told him about the baby, but apparently she had known about Tempus. She scoffed. "So you do work for Lyle?"

Betty laughed haughtily, deeply amused by the notion, until a shooting pain in her shoulder caused her to wince. Maybe it wasn't that funny. She shook her head, sobering herself and stated bluntly. "I would never work for Lyle. I hate him, actually."

"Then how do you know so much about Tempus?" Parker demanded. This girl confused the hell out of her and she didn't like it one bit.

Jarod wanted to say something, but what could he possibly say? They both clearly knew more than he did and didn't seem to be in the mood for sharing. So he kept silent.

"I can't tell you."

"Tell me!"

Betty gulped, she could see how angry Parker was getting. "Lyle has been working with a team of scientists, they're trying to make some sort of machine."

"Machine? To do what?"

Betty shrugged.

Parker was getting tired of this game. "To do what?" she growled.

"To see the future." She answered self-consciously. She honestly didn't expect them to believe her, but what was she supposed to tell her? She couldn't even come up with a lie big enough to cover this one.

Parker had to choke back a laugh. "What?"

Betty rolled her eyes. She knew she wouldn't take her seriously.

"That's not possible." Parker spat out confidently. When Betty didn't say anything, she turned to Jarod. "Is that possible?"

As Jarod looked at Betty, he then realized, with her blonde hair thrown up haphazardly and her child-like green eyes looking up at him, what Parker meant when she spoke of Betty's innocence.

He ran his hand over his head, starting at his chin and running it through his hair. "It's not a topic I've readily explored… but even for a team of scientists, something like that could take months, years even, to come up with a plausible theory."

_Damn Lyle. _Parker was furious, of all the preposterous experiments for Lyle to come up with. "What the hell would he want to see the future for?"

Betty looked over to Jarod, then down at the floor. It took only a moment for Jarod to realize what she'd implied.

Parker glanced back and forth between the two. She didn't understand the silent message and was getting more and more irritated by the moment.

Betty could see her frustration. "Look, Lyle hates playing that whole run and chase game. If he could see the future, he wouldn't have to. He would simply know where the pretender is headed and go get him."

Parker shook her head in disbelief. "That's not even possible."

"I'll look into it a little more, see if I can come up with anything that proves that this experiment might be possible." Jarod offered.

She shook her head more vigorously this time. She was pratically shouting and the panic in her voice was apparent. "No! He can't do that… he just can't!"

Jarod had never seen Parker let her emotions get this much control over her, not even in more emotionally stressful situations, and she'd had plenty of those.

"Parker, it's okay." He reached out for her, but she jerked away.

"No Jarod. It's not. The Centre is not going to get their hands on you, _especially_ not now!"

"Not Now?"

Parker's eyes grew wide, she hadn't meant to say that aloud, it just sort of… slipped.

"Parker, what do you mean, _not now_?"

Before he could say another word, she grabbed her coat and headed out the door to the one place where she knew that neither of them would follow her. She wasn't ready to face the music, not just yet.

**

* * *

**

A/N:

Please don't hesitate to let me know what you think. I appreciate any and all reviews, they mean so much to me:) -Charlie 


	8. Familiarity, the Park, and a Confession

A/N: Okay, I know it has been a while, and I thank you sincerely for your patience. I did take up working diligently on this story recently, however this has proven to be a very difficult chapter to get up. It has required lots and lots of editing, which I am eternally grateful for!

I really hope that you enjoy this chapter and that it was worth your wait! :)

-Charlie

PS: Thank you for the Tickle ;)

* * *

It was slowly approaching eight o'clock. Employees would begin to show up any minute. She closed her eyes and ran her hands through her hair. She was tired. She'd slept for a while on the sofa in her office, but had woken up early due to a surge of the ever present nausea. So she'd gotten up and started working in an attempt to keep her mind occupied.

The lights in the hall flickered on, indicating that people were arriving. She then stood up, fighting off the dizziness, walked around her desk, closed the door to her office and returned to her paperwork in the half-lit room.

Several hours later, the door slowly creaked open. Although she still hadn't turned the lights fully on in her office, she could still tell by his silhouette who stood at her door.

"Miss Parker? Why is it so dark in here?" He flicked on the lights and she automatically squinted. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Yes, I'm just blind."

Sydney brought his hand to his chin contemplatively, but before he could say anything, Broots walked in. "Morning, guys. What's going on?"

"We're having a party." Miss Parker spat back, without thinking. She was secretly grateful for his interruption. "What have you got for me Broots?"

"Um, I found some more monetary transactions from Mr. Lyle, indicating that he's purchased more machinery." He handed Miss Parker a piece of paper.

"What's this?"

"Proof that he's up to something."

She began reading the contents. It was a memo from Mr. Lyle to Mr. Raines, basically telling him that he was ready to get started. "So he's getting his team of scientist ready to try and see the future." She said, mockingly.

"Team?" Broots asked, surprised. "I didn't read anything about a team of scientists." He reached over and grabbed the paper out of Miss Parker's hands.

Miss Parker rose from her seat, fighting off the nausea, and walked around the front of her desk to where Broots was standing.

"To see the future?" Sydney asked, incredulously.

"Tempus, time. It all makes sense." She snatched the paper back out of Broots hands, surprising him.

"But M-Miss Parker, this isn't a science fiction movie."

Miss Parker looked at them gravely. "I know, it's the Centre."

She sighed heavily and eased herself into the nearest chair. She was beginning to realize just how big of an impact his project could make on **all** of their lives.

Miss Parker followed Broots' meaningful glance across the office to where Betty's desk still sat. "Miss Parker?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"Do you think you've ever- Well, what I mean is; Have you- Does- uh, nevermind."

"What Broots?" she asked impatiently.

"It's nothing."

"What is it?"

He looked sheepish.

"What would you like to say Mr. Broots?" Sydney asked, calmly.

He swallowed. "Uh, well, was there something familiar to you about Betty at all?"

She looked angry.

He swallowed again.

"Do you think that you may have known Betty **before** she came to the Centre?"

"I dunno…Maybe."

"Maybe? Maybe!" she leaned forward quickly, too quickly, and she felt the room around her slide around. She shut her eyes tightly and braced herself on the desk.

"Miss Parker, are you sure you're all right?" Sydney asked, concerned.

Eyes still closed, she gritted her teeth, "All of this time-"

Broots glanced at Sydney.

"Miss Parker-" Sydney started.

She opened her eyes. "All of this time, and you have never mentioned this before?" She honestly wasn't all that mad, however, since she didn't feel well, she looked much more angry, but she was okay with that.

"Well, I'm not certain, I can't even place her. If I did know her, she looked different."

"Different, how?"

"I don't know."

"Mr. Broots, did you know Betty from a previous job?" Sydney interjected.

He shook his head, "No."

"Through your ex-wife, perhaps?"

He sighed. "No."

"From something you've had to research through the Centre?" Miss Parker threw in.

Broots thought about this one, but after a while, he answered, frustrated. "No, that's not it either."

Miss Parker and Sydney both sighed.

"Okay, this is gunna sound a little out there, but you know when you've lost something, and you can't find it, and you keep looking in the same place because you swore it was there, but no matter how many times you look there, you can't find it?"

"Mhmm." Sydney urged.

"Well, I just keep thinking that somehow she knows Debbie."

"Your daughter?" he clarified.

Remembering the blonde girl that stayed with her, Miss Parker felt a surge of protectiveness. "What would she have to do with Debbie?"

Broots shrugged, "Miss Parker, I just can't place her."

"Well, she's a bit old to be one of Debbie's friends, but is she a sibling of a friend?" Sydney interrogated.

"No."

"Was she a teacher of Debbie's?

"No." Broots shook his head, for what felt like the thousandth time. "I just don't know, Sydney."

"Broots, think!?" Miss Parker demanded.

* * *

_'This is ridiculous'_ she thought as she flew through the city streets, the scenery going by at high speed through the car window. She couldn't stay at work and she couldn't go home. Not just yet, anyhow. The scenery flew past the window almost as quickly as her thoughts were moving. She wasn't headed anywhere in particular.

Then, brakes were slammed before she was even aware that she'd hit the brakes. In a flurry of movement, she'd already pulled over the curb and jumped out. Parker didn't give her actions much thought as she walked firmly over to the park bench her car had almost flown past, stopped smoothly in front of it and confidently placed her hands on her hips. Seemingly all too composed for the situation.

The young woman looked up from her half eaten sandwich and offered an awkward smile. Miss Parker towered over Betty as she asked coolly, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Eating lunch."

Miss Parker rolled her eyes, exasperated. As usual, she lacked the patience. "How do you know Broots?" A moment, then she corrected herself, "Other than from the Centre, that is."

"Uh…" Betty tapped her hand lightly against her mouth as she thought. She appeared to be thinking hard and then shrugged. "I give up. Where do I know Broots from?"

Miss Parker narrowed her eyes and jutted her index finger when she spoke. Betty had seemed all too innocent and Parker didn't trust it. At all. "_You_ are constantly messing with me and I am _so sick_ of your little games." She clenched her jaw for a moment and then forced herself to relax, appearing calmer, but only slightly. "Now, you're going to tell me why you're _here_."

Betty gulped. "Miss Parker—"

She cut off; Miss Parker was practically growling. It was in that moment that Betty discovered that she was very close to blowing this for the second time. She knew if she messed this up again, another opportunity may not present itself so soon and all her hard word would have been lost.

She had no choice now.

Setting down her lunch, she slowly reached for the briefcase, lying under the bench. Miss Parker immediately recognized the DSA player.

Betty looked around to make sure that there was no one within earshot and was glad to see that the park was quiet and nearly empty. Determined to see it through, Betty stood up and handed the player, along with a DSA, to Miss Parker. Betty was quick to stop away; unable and unwilling to watch that dreadful DSA again.

Miss Parker took it incredulously, while Betty began to pace in front of her. With caution and a little fear tingling at the pit of her stomach, Parker placed the DSA in the player and jumped slightly when her own face appeared on the screen.

Betty did not look, but the weary voice broke her heart all the same and her pacing increased in intensity.

"Jarod? It's me, Parker. I know that you're probably not too happy to hear from me right now, but there are some things I need to say, so please, just hear me out, okay?

"Remember when I told you that leaving together wasn't possible? Well, I was wrong. I was just so afraid… so afraid of loosing you. But I still lost you."

Although Betty did not look at the screen, she could clearly remember the grief-stricken face, the tears in her eyes, her head buried into her trembling hands. She remembered the agony that covered Jarod's face as he watched the same DSA less than one week ago and felt a tear slide down her own check when she heard that voice she recognized so well brake as she finished her apostrophe.

"Jarod, there are some things, things that have happened, things that only Tempus can help us with now. Please Jarod, just trust Betty… She's gonna help us.

"I miss you. And I know I don't say it enough, but… I love you."

After the screen went black, Miss Parker remained, stunned. Betty tried desperately to hide her own tears.

Her eyes still glued to the now black screen, "This is why Jarod came back?" Miss Parker demanded.

Betty looked down at the ground. She didn't know what to say and she still wasn't sure where this conversation was going. This hadn't been part of the plan, she was improvising now. If she blew this, there would be no one else to blame but herself.

"And here I thought he loved _me._"

"He _does_ love you!" Betty shot back quickly.

Miss Parker sighed, "That's not even me on the screen."

"No, it's not. Not yet." Betty conceded with a sigh. "Tempus started out as a project to _see_ the future, but … ya know Lyle, never willing to quit while he's ahead, the project eventually developed into, well, time traveling."

"Oh, come on Betty! Time traveling? "

"What?! It's not all that unrealistic anymore!"

"And what am I supposed to believe? That my future self makes this disk to con Jarod into coming back so I didn't have to raise this kid all by myself?"

"It was not a con! But it was plan B, plan A not including your father seeing me at the Centre. And besides, Jarod would have come back anyhow; it just would have taken him a couple more months."

"Then what's the rush?"

"_Because_ it's time we don't have, Parker!"

Miss Parker seemed to be skeptical of Betty's answer. Actually, she was downright incredulous about this whole story. "Time _we_ don't have?" She repeated back.

Betty looked down.

"But…if Jarod was going to come back anyway then why would we need…" The rest was lost in her throat, as a thought assaulted her so suddenly, Parker was caught off guard. No. She could feel her chest tighten in panic, "What's going to happen?"

"The Centre is going to catch up with him."

"And take him back to the Centre, and—"

"No." Betty had a hard time meeting Parker's intense blue eyes. When she spoke again, it was with a voice so low, it was barely a whisper. "He's not going to make it back to the Centre."

"Then…" the realization hit her. She didn't want to believe what Betty was telling her, it all sounded so surreal. And she couldn't allow herself to believe about Jarod's… It felt as if she'd been thrown against a brick wall. The DSA player slid out of her hands and crashed onto the concrete, but she barely heard the sound it made. As hard as she tried, oxygen refused to fill her lungs. "Jarod…Jarod…he dies." She gasped, between shock and disbelief.

Betty knelt down next to where Miss Parker was sitting, "Parker, look at me! You wanted to know why I'm here. That's why I'm here! I, with your help, am going to _keep Jarod alive_!"

When at first she didn't respond, Betty took Miss Parker's tear-filled face into her hands. Blue eyes so vacant, face so pale. "Do you hear me?!" Betty was forceful, yet controlled. "_We _are going to keep him alive!"

The words penetrated the fog that had threatened to consume her and Miss Parker nodded, a hand over her heart, as she tried to slow her breathing. She nodded slowly again, reassuring herself as well as Betty. Her eyes involuntarily slid closed and she let the tears flow freely down her face.

Just the thought…

Too much.

Betty pulled Miss Parker to her tightly and before she knew it, her own hot tears were streaming undeterred.

* * *

Just a short while later, Jarod was rambling on to Parker, repeating back all the details she'd given him about Tempus. He was making all sorts of connections that should have caught her attention. No matter how hard she tried, though, she just couldn't focus on his words. This afternoon's events kept replaying themselves over and over in her mind and were coming close to driving her crazy. She wanted to tell Jarod, but she knew she couldn't. Betty had made her promise and, knowing Jarod as she did, Betty's reasoning had made sense.

Too much sense.

"_Being the hero that he is, knowing that he's going to die will not stop him." _

Jarod had that concentrated look about him and was right in the middle of a sentence, when he suddenly stopped. Raising his eyes, the pretender caught sight of Parker, standing across the room. She was by the window, gazing out, with arms crossed over her chest and quite oblivious to the fact that Jarod had stopped talking. Without warning, the thought dawned on him… with everything going on, he hadn't told her he loved her.

"Parker, I missed you." He said softly, bringing her out of her reverie.

She glanced over her shoulder at him, smiling slightly. "You already said that." All too soon, though, her eyes returned to their unfocused gaze.

Walking across the room swiftly, he came up directly behind her and tenderly wrapped his arms around her lithe frame. She could feel her heart begin to race.

"I love you." He whispered into her ear.

She leaned over her shoulder and kissed him. But it was only a second before she realized what she was doing and Parker was quick to untangle herself from his arms. No time like the present.

She took a step back, eyes rooming around. Parker wanted to see his reaction, but, try as she might, she could bring her eyes to meet his. "Jarod, I – I'm pregnant."

With that last word, she finally met his gaze. There. It was out in the open, no taking it back. Nervous, she watched his expression change from confusion to shock. The normally composed pretender stumbled backwards a few steps until he allowed his unstable legs to give; he was unsure if they would have been able support him for much longer.

He sat, unmoving, for a long time and Parker had to wonder if he continued on breathing, still as he was. Finally, a question, "Have you seen a doctor?"

"Uh, no." she answered uneasily. Parker could understand his reaction. Was it good, bad?

"You should." He suggested.

She nodded. "Okay."

They both sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes. An eternity, really. Finally, Parker broke the silence. Almost inaudibly, she said, "I don't want to go alone."

A big grin spread across Jarod's face. He stood up and took a few steps toward her. Closing the space between them, Parker soon found herself being pulled into a tight embrace, his soft breath on her ear whispering, "You don't have to."

She couldn't help the smile which graced her lips, as Parker allowed him to hold her.

* * *

Thank you so much for reading! I would love to hear your feedback, and I am going to try my very hardest to update sooner. Scout's honor!


	9. Two Heartbeats and Memories Played Out

A/N: Okay, so I remember that last time I posted a chapter that I was gunna get another one up sooner and it ended up being the longest break between chapters yet, but this time, I've already almost finished the next chapter. Thank you so much to those of you who continue to read this story, it means a lot to me. -Charlie

* * *

"You're late this morning, Miss Parker." Sydney's tone had been lighthearted; it was more a statement than an accusation. His good mood was shaken, though, when Parker failed completely to reply or even acknowledge his presence. "Miss Parker?"

His voice penetrated the fog surrounding her, but his words didn't. _'What did he say?'_ she pondered for a moment, trying to make sense. Unable to come up with an immediate answer, she decided that she didn't really care. The colors were faded, the sounds muffled, the world slowed, but she didn't care… couldn't bring herself to care.

So, ignoring that he'd spoken at all, Parker bypassed the doctor and continued her way down the corridor. Sydney followed closely behind her and, not bothering to mask his worry, alternated between calling out "Miss Parker?" and "Are you alright?"

Parker seemed oblivious.

Something was very wrong. He had been suspicious for a while that something wasn't quite right; now he was sure. Anyone else would have brushed this attitude off as Miss Parker's disinterest in attempting to exercise social skills, but he could see otherwise. Having no response from her whatsoever increased his worry tenfold and, he seized the moment in which they were alone in the elevator to corner her. Firmly placing his hands on her upper arms, he turned her to face him. "Miss Parker, where have you been?" he demanded for what felt like the hundredth time.

This, literally, shook her out of her stupor. Glancing around helped dissipate the fog a bit more and she silently cursed herself for acting so careless. _'This is the Centre'_ she reminder self, there were eyes everywhere. She knew she had to be more careful here, more _in control_. The cost of a single mistake could be too high.

Still without answers, Sydney demanded once more, "Miss Parker!"

'_Right._' She had to give him an answer, had to speak. She straightened herself and patted her hair, making sure no strand stood out of place. Her brain tried conjuring up a believable lie, but she eventually settled for the truth… partially. "I went for a drive." She said, visibly more composed.

She knew, particularly at this point, that she could not fool Sydney into believing she was alright, but she just couldn't tell him what was going on. She just couldn't.

Relieved that she'd just spoken and was not catatonic, he released his grasp of her arms. "Driving…" He repeated. He wasn't sure whether he bought her story, but he knew he couldn't question it; Parker lashed out when under pressure. He needed to keep her engaged for the time being, to see if he could extract as much information as he possibly could. "To clear you head?"

She rolled her eyes, fully back into Miss Parker mode. She wasn't willing to deal with any of his mind games. "No, Sydney, just for the thrill of watching the odometer increase."

Typical Miss Parker answer. She was struggling to compose herself, he knew. Why she needed to compose herself, he did not. "Miss Parker, I've known you since you were a little girl. I know when something's bothering you. I can't force you to tell me, but I need you to know that, you can rely on my. If there's ever, anything at all…"

She placed one hand upon her stomach, in an almost unconscious gesture. "God, Sydney, I know." And she did. No matter how twisted this situation was, Sydney could be ultimately trusted. At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to tell Sydney everything, but it just wasn't right timing. Not yet. She looked into his eyes. "I know that. I just – I just–" She shook her head, breaking their gaze. "It's probably better you hear it from Jarod."

It was a copout, but she just had to escape.

The elevator doors opened announcing the arrival to their floor. Miss Parker stepped out. There was nothing more she could say. That was the truth. Sydney had been the closest thing to a father figure Jarod had ever experienced, so he should be the one to tell him. Besides, she lacked the words to make sense of it all.

Sydney stared at Miss Parker's retreating form, dumbfounded._ Jarod? What would Jarod have to do with Miss Parker's strange behavior? _He reached out an arm and stopped the elevator doors as they closed in his face, stepping out just in time to see her office door close.

Miss Parker shut the door of her office and fumbled her way through the room, stopping directly underneath the security camera, the only place in the office where she knew she couldn't be seen.

From out of her coat pocket, she pulled out a grainy photograph that the doctor had given her just a short while ago. She shouldn't have been carrying it, but keeping it close brought comfort. Parker lightly traced a shaky finger over the glossy finish of the paper, seeking lines.

'There are two heartbeats', the doctor had informed her. In response, she'd insulted the doctor, his glasses, and his competence, and then demanded a second opinion. Jarod had tried to mollify her, trying to explain to her that the doctor hadn't made a mistake, but was unable to convince the mother of his child- or, children. A pudgy bald doctor came in next; he was also insulted, and dismissed. The first doctor returned and with patience, retried.

Looking back, she hated the way she'd acted in the doctor's office. She'd never allowed herself to get that out of control before. Parker had been near hysterics! She could blame the hormones, of course, but she still felt like that was a pathetic excuse, particularly for someone in her line of work.

It had taken two doctors and Jarod's confirmation, to actually convince her that she was in fact, carrying twins. And she still found it unfathomable. How could there be two of them inside her? Logically, she knew it was possible; she herself had been a twin. Still…

Even though she'd assured Jarod that her ulcer hadn't been bothering her, he had expressed his concerns to the doctor. Fortunately, the doctor hadn't seemed too concerned, explaining that patients with ulcers often had little to no symptoms during pregnancy. Jarod, who should have known that already, had clearly seemed relieved after hearing that, and secretly, so did she.

Parker came back from her ponderings and tried once more to make out something of the picture she held in her hands. Though she still couldn't identify anything besides splotches of white and grey, she knew what was there: two hearts.

The doctor had informed her earlier today that she was nearly fourteen weeks. And that had scared her. She'd been lucky so far and it was barely noticeable as it was, but she was becoming increasingly aware of the tightness of the waistline of her skirts and pants and she knew without a doubt, her babies wouldn't be able to stay concealed for much longer.

* * *

He shouldn't be doing this. He knew that.

When he'd told Betty that he wouldn't go through her things, he meant it and it wasn't something he usually did, going back on his word. But the need to know suddenly overthrew the need to keep a promise. Betty was hiding things and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't figure her out. Worse, a feeling of dread washed over him every time he tried to dismiss it.

So, he needed to know.

Toying with the idea of time travel since Betty had mentioned it, he'd come up with some plausible theories as to what had been going on. He had, however, nothing that could prove any of it. It shouldn't be possible, after all. He tried to think back to times in his childhood when time travel sims had been mentioned, but they'd never actually had him work on any, because of the huge gaps in any of the theories in existence.

Even the Center had considered time travel as merely science fiction.

Jarod placed Betty's black bag containing all of her DSA's on the coffee table next to his own DSA player. He didn't like this at all, but he didn't know what else to do. He wouldn't be able to do anything until he had enough information to go by. And with Parker pregnant...

He randomly grabbed a few DSA's out of the bag.

* * *

_Jarod was just hanging his coat on the hook inside the door as a little girl with dark brown locks, wearing white pajamas came sprinting into the room. "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" she chanted as she held up a piece of construction paper, "Look what I did!"_

_His face lit up as he turned toward the source of the excitement. "Hey there, Katie bug." He knelt down next to the small child, engulfing her into an embrace with one arm. "What we've got here?" he asked as he lifted up the paper, furrowing his brow with serious concentration. _

_Her giggle warmed him instantly. "That's me!" she exclaimed as she used her index finger to point herself on the page. Then she shifted her finger over, "and that's Maggie," she moved her finger once again, "and that's mom!" _

_"It's wonderful, Katie." He chuckled to himself at the image of his family as stick figures. "That looks just like mom." _

_"This morning when you said that you missed us while you were at work, I decided to make a picture for you to take with you to work so then maybe you wouldn't miss us so much." _

_Jarod looked at his daughter for a moment. Sometimes she just blew him away. "You have no idea how much this means to me, Katie bug." _

_Her face looked hopeful, "So you like it?"_

_"Like it? Are you kidding? I love it!" He bent down and kissed her on the forehead. "I will keep this picture forever."_

* * *

_Parker rolled over in bed, moaning softly at the pleasure of being able to sleep in on the weekend. Before she even opened her eyes she heard a small voice call, "Mommy?"_

_Smiling, she opened her eyes and looked straight into ice blue eyes that matched her own. "Morning, baby." She patted the open space in the bed next to her. _

_Without waiting for any further instructions, the small girl tip toed across the cool floor and climbed into the warm comforter beside her mother. _

_Parker wrapped her arm around her daughter, pulling her closer. She slowly took in the scent of the crisp morning air, the clean blankets surrounding them, and the scent of the shampoo she'd washed her daughter's hair with the night before. _

_"Mommy? Is Kate with Daddy?"_

_"Mhmhm. They went to go get us some breakfast. They didn't want to wake you because you were still sleeping." _

_"Oh." _

_Mother and daughter laid in silence for a few moments before, "Mommy?"_

_"Yes, baby?"_

_The little girl crinkled up her face. "You think Daddy's gunna bring donuts, again?"_

_Parker laughed quietly. "Oh Maggie," She kissed the top of her daughter's head. "Let's hope not."_

_A car door slammed. "They're home!" Maggie exclaimed, jumping out of the bed and rushing out of the room. _

_Parker shook her head and ran a hand through her hair as she sat up. She stepped over to her bedroom window, pulling the curtain. She spotted Jarod unbuckling Kate from her booster seat in their tan SUV as Maggie came running out. Parker couldn't help but smile, and although she couldn't hear their conversation, she knew Maggie was asking what they'd brought and apparently she was pleased with the answer. _

_As Jarod set Kate down, the girls ran together and threw their arms around one another. While the girls hugged, Jarod looked up and spotted his wife looking out the window. He grinned at her and waved. '_I love you_', he mouthed from where he stood in the driveway._

_She bit her lip, smiling like a school girl, and almost inaudibly, she whispered, "I love you, too."_

* * *

_"Uh-Oh!" Betty threw her arms up in the air. _

_Two little girls, with the same dark hair, stood next to each other in the kitchen chairs bent over a table that was cluttered with arts and craft supplies. The girl on the left pulled down her lower lip, revealing her bottom teeth, and opened her eyes wide. The one on the right threw up two arms, one with blue paint on it, the other with yellow paint on it, and spots of green on each where the paint had gotten mixed, and exclaimed, "Uh-Oh!" mimicking Betty._

_Betty chuckled at the adorable little girls. She thought that certainly they were the two most adorable children in the entire world. Of course, she was probably biased, having been with these girls almost every day since they were born, but they were just so darn cute. _

_"We better get this mess cleaned up, before your mom gets home or she's gunna flip." She told them._

_Betty walked around the table and methodically picked up one of the girls, placed her on the ground, then did the same with the next. Even though she knew she would have to clean up both of these girls and their mess, she couldn't help but smile as put her hands down and a sticky, painted hand was placed in each of her own. _

* * *

_"Just getting in?" Parker asked, peering over the rim of the thick brown glasses, in a low, teasing voice. _

_Betty blushed all the way to her roots and stopped in her tracks. Her forefinger pressed over her mouth, as she directed a "shhhhhh" pointedly at Parker; she looked around to see if anyone else had caught her. _

_Parker set down the paper she's been reading on the kitchen table she was currently sitting at. "Come," she insisted as she patted the table in front of an open chair, "I want details." _

_"After I get changed." Betty whispered. Still trying not to wake anyone else in the house, she turned to tip-toe to her bedroom. _

_"They're not here." Parker called after her. "Jarod took the girls to go get some breakfast. We have a few minutes." She smiled and patted the table once more. _

_Betty sighed, relieved, then rolled her eyes as she trudged over to the empty seat and plopped herself in it, allowing the strappy heels she'd been wearing the previous night to topple to the tile flooring loudly, no longer trying to be quiet. _

_"Well…."_

_Betty rolled her eyes again, but really she was dying to tell everything. She adjusted herself to her seat, preparing to convey every detail and clasped her hands together, "Well," she started energetically, "I was in the middle of dancing with some random guy, when he started making eyes at me." _

_"What did he look like?" _

_"Ohhh, he was tall, handsome, distinct jaw line, the most intense green eyes-"_

_"Then you slowly made your way across the dance floor, never loosing eye contact." She said with sarcastic certainty dripping from every word, at the same time Parker dramatically placed her hand over her heart with a mocking sigh._

_Betty pretended to be mad, pursing her lips. "Hey. Who's telling the story here?"_

_Parker let out a slight chuckle, then sobered her expression, "Sorry, continue."_

_"Then I slowly made my way across the dance floor, never loosing eye contact." They shared a grin. "We danced all night. He brought me a few drinks," Betty's expression changed from excited to embarrassed, "one thing led to another and before I knew it, I was waking up in his bed." Betty buried her face in her hands, "Oh god."_

_"Your first one night stand," Parker smiled widely, feigning to wipe tears from her eyes, "I am so proud." _

_"Parker," Betty whined, "it's not funny. I left a note on a stickie, saying 'Thank You, I had a great time'." _

_This just made Parker laugh harder. Not even Betty's reproaching stare could make her stop. "Oh, c'mon. It's a little funny, you have to admit."_

_Betty just stared at her, clearly not amused._

_Parker reached over the table, placing her hand on Betty's shoulder in a comforting gesture, "Don't worry honey, it was only your first time. You won't ever see him again."_

_Betty rolled her eyes, but smiled at Parker's sense of humor. _

_"Was it any good?" Betty chuckled at her friend's mischievous question, but refrained from answering._

* * *

Jarod didn't know what to think of the DSA's he'd just watched. They showed what seemed to be a happy family - his happy family - and he wanted more than anything for this to be real. Doubts lingered, though. It all seemed so impossible, that he was just having too much troubling believing everything Betty had said. Of course, the DSA's would normally be considered hard evidence; nothing spoke as loudly as pictures. But he still held onto his disbelief. None of these events had happened, so how could they be there, clear as day, for him to see? And if the events on these DSAs were going to play out in his future, if they were his future...

Why on earth would Betty have come back?

He didn't want to believe it, didn't want to even think about it. The answer was too obvious, though. Betty would never have risked traveling back in time – and surely that could bring about consequences not even he could properly predict -, if something hadn't gone terribly wrong.

As Jarod carefully placed the DSA's back into Betty's black bag, his hand brushed over a piece of paper, haphazardly pushed inside a pocket on the side of the bag. Having already crossed the line where boundaries were concerned, Jarod had no qualms about picking up the paper and unfolding it. A sharp breath was the only sound to be heard. There, on the construction paper in his hands, were the same stick figures he'd seen in the drawing on the DSA.

* * *

A/N: Once again, thank you to those of you who continue to read my story :) And thanks again to Mary, my beta, she does so much for me and this story. Please let me know what you think! -Charlie


	10. Old Games and Deciding to Go, Maybe

Hey! Thanks so much for reading my story! Your reviews mean the world to me. As for a question starclipper01 addressed, as to why Jarod would allow his family to be viewed on DSA after what the Centre did to him over the years, I'm not going to answer that question right now, however I do plan on answering that very question in my story. I just wanted you to know that I'm not ignoring any of your questions. Thanks again for all your support:) -Charlie

* * *

Sighing, she tossed some files from one corner of her desk to another. It was already after ten, but the morning haze still hadn't worn off yet.

"Knock, knock." He announced his presence by putting his good fist up in the air and motioning a knock as he walked through the door to her office. "How's my favorite sister today?"

"Peachy keen." She answered monotonously.

"Aww, not happy to see me, Sis?" He shook his head in disappointment.

She rolled her eyes.

"That's too bad, cause I have good news."

She narrowed her eyes; he didn't look terminally ill. "What good news could _you_ possibly have?"

He grinned his famous Lyle grin and Parker suppressed a shudder. "I've got a lead on Jarod."

Her blood ran cold. "Ja- Jarod?" she choked out. A million thoughts raced through her mind at once, as worry cursed through her veins. Could Lyle really be on to him? To them?

"Yep, our Pretender's back to his old games." That smug grin on his face was starting to make her nauseous.

He wasn't acting like it, but she knew he'd noticed her strange reaction to the mention of Jarod and she knew there was no room for such mishaps. _Compose yourself, Parker_. She straightened her back and tried to play it off like nothing different had occurred; clues to Jarod's whereabouts weren't exactly unheard of. "What have you got?"

"One of our operatives in Cincinnati spotted him in a café."

She let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding and held back a smile of relief. At least Jarod was safe. But why would Lyle be telling her that Jarod had been spotted in Cincinnati if he obviously hadn't? She didn't trust him one bit.

Lyle grinned at her, "Should I phone the jet for you?"

She knew she couldn't call him out on the fact that she was certain Jarod was not in Cincinnati, because that would imply she knew where he was. Still, Parker had no desire to chase a dead end. She fake-smiled back, "Thanks. That would be great."

"Alright, I'll get right on it, Sis." He turned, like he was about to leave, but glanced suddenly at the file lying open on her desk, instead.

His sudden movement startled her and she instinctively rolled her chair away from her desk, unconsciously protecting her babies. For split second, Lyle seemed just as startled as she was. Then he figured he had the upper hand and winked at her as he exited. The nauseous feeling returned and it definitely wasn't because of the pregnancy.

She had to calm down before she gave herself away sooner than her growing belly ever could.

* * *

Parker languidly walked though her foyer, immediately pulling off her shoes and not even bothering to hang her coat, as she made her way into the living room. It was surprisingly empty, seeing as how it was serving as Betty's make-shift bedroom. Too tired to care, though, she plopped herself onto the sofa.

Jarod's worry had only increase as he noticed the time passing; it had been already eleven o'clock and no sign of Parker. So, he was thoroughly relieved when he heard the lock to the front door turn. He came into the hallway just in time to see her retreating form enter the living room and his worry came back with ferocity. _Why was she home so late? Was she okay? Were the babies? What is she doing?_

Jarod practically ran after her, only to find her easing her tired body onto the sofa. He gently sat down next to her and with infinite tenderness, caressed her hand.

She closed her eyes, not acknowledging him, but he saw the corners of her mouth curl upwards ever so slightly.

"Parker, are you okay?"

Eyes opened and a real smiled flourished, "Yeah." She was surprisingly touched by how much concern he'd unknowingly placed in his question. She placed both of their hands over her abdomen, which was now rounded ever-so-slightly and felt heartened. "We're fine." She reassured him, "Just tired."

He nodded, glad everything was okay, but still concerned as to what had held her so long, "Where did you go after work?"

"Cincinnati."

One of his eyebrows raised in disbelief, "Cincinnati?"

"You're not there, in case you were wondering."

"Why on earth would you think I was in Ohio?"

"I knew you weren't in Ohio, Lyle told everyone at the Centre that there was a lead on you."

"Why would he do that?"

Parker shrugged. "I don't know."

The room was silent for several minutes and Parker was almost completely asleep when Jarod cleared his throat. "Parker, I don't know that the Centre is safe for you anymore."

She opened her eyes, awake now. "What do you mean?"

He sighed, knowing she was going to be reluctant to accept his suggestion. "Well, if the Centre realizes that you're pregnant, I just can't even imagine what they'll do. Let alone if they found out that they were mine…" he trailed off then shook his head, trying to regain his composure; it was becoming increasingly easy to worry. "I think it's about time we get out of here. Go make a life somewhere else, like we always talked about."

Parker pulled herself into a seated position. "Are you serious?"

He nodded, too nervous to form words. Last time he'd broached this subject he spent over a month without her.

She nodded in return. "Okay, just give me a couple of days to-"

She never got to finish her sentence because Betty came barging into the room. "You can't go yet!"

Jarod was dumbfounded. Who does this girl even think she is? "Excuse me?"

"That's exactly what happened last time and it didn't work out so hot. Okay, well it did, at first, but- Sorry, I babble when I'm nervous."

"Betty, you can't just come here, claiming to be from the future, and tell us how to live our lives. It just doesn't work like that. Parker can't keep putting herself and our children in danger."

Betty took in a deep breath. This was not the job she'd signed up for. Nothing at this point was going to plan and she'd never been good at thinking on her feet. She clenched her jaw, ready. "With all due respect, Jarod, Parker is not in any real danger. I love those girls too and-" she took in another breath. _Focus_. "Somebody has to stop Lyle. I was supposed to do it, but I blew my cover. It may have to be sooner than later now, but I didn't risk _my life_ for history to repeat itself!"


	11. An Epiphany and More Revelations

Broots sighed as he looked at the photograph of his daughter sitting on his desk. Gently, he lifted the photo and touched the glass adoringly. She had the same blond hair as her mother and the brightest green eyes he'd ever seen. Debbie was his life.

"Debbie's new school picture?" Miss Parker inquired, leaning over the tech for a better look.

Broots expected some sort of disinterest in Miss Parker's voice, as was common, but he was surprised to detect none. "Uh, yeah." He answered, lifting up the picture so she could get a better view.

"She's getting so big."

"I know!" He couldn't help the smile from touching his lips. "She started high school this year."

"She's absolutely beautiful, Broots." She sounded nothing if not sincere.

Miss Parker was genuinely amazed at how quickly little Debbie was growing up. For a moment, she fleeting wondered if her children were going to grow up so fast, but quickly pushed the thought to the back of her mind; she couldn't afford to worry about that right now. Her attention returned to Debbie's picture.

The corners of her mouth turned upwards as she noticed that Debbie's hair was slightly tussled and her green eyes beamed up at the camera. _She has her father's innocence, that's for sure,_ Miss Parker thought as she stepped away from the tech.

_Innocence,_ she thought again, and immediately her thoughts flashed to another young blond.

"Miss Parker, was there something you needed?"

Broots' question brought her back to the present. "Oh, I uh, I just had an epiphany."

Then Miss Parker abruptly turned on her heels and exited the office, leaving the tech to ponder Miss Parker's continuously strange behavior.

Upon entering the hallway, she practically ran into Sydney.

"Oh good, Miss Parker, I was just looking for you."

"Not now, Syd."

"Miss Parker, we _need_ to talk."

She looked him in eyes with one of her infamous glares. "I said not now, Sydney."

And breezed past him as he stepped aside, resigned to the fact that now was clearly not a good time to talk and wondering if such a time would ever come.

* * *

Miss Parker came flying into her home, startling Jarod who just happened to be walking by the door at that very moment.

"Where is she?" Parker growled before Jarod even had the chance to question her.

"Betty just went up stairs."

Parker continued to storm through the house and up the stairs.

"Debbie!" she called.

_Debbie?_ Jarod wondered if he'd heard her correctly. "Parker?" he called after her.

She threw the door open to the upstairs study and found a young blonde sitting in a chair, reading.

All the young blond had to do was glance up at Parker and suddenly everything flooded back to her at once.

_Parker was lying on the couch fighting off the constant nausea and a burning desire to trust the girl sitting across from her while she told Parker about losing her father as a teen and the nice family that took her in. _

_Over a month later, Parker was shoving a gun into her chest, while still finding the girl with child-like green eyes and her hair being thrown up haphazardly endearing while gaining her confession about Tempus._

_Broots saying he felt as if Betty reminded him of Debbie._

_Betty showing her the DSA of herself telling Jarod to trust Betty. _

It was just too much to ignore.

Her anger at being fouled soon dissipated and Parker's eyes watered, a strange and unnamed emotion overtaking her senses as she stared at the young lady before her. Almost in a whisper, "Debbie Broots."

The girl in question didn't say anything. Setting down her book, she looked back up at Parker to reveal her own tearing eyes, proof that Parker wasn't the only one affected.

"We were the family that took you in." Miss Parker stated. It wasn't a question.

A tear slid down her cheek.

"You came back to save your dad." Parker didn't state it as a question, nor as an accusation; she of all people would have understood such strong motivation.

"No." Debbie answered firmly. She rose off the chair to be even with Parker - well sort of, Parker was a bit taller. "I came back to save _your_ family. If there was a way to save him in the process, I'd love to be able to, but that's not why I came back." Her voice trembled.

Parker reached out and hugged the girl, surprising herself with the sudden expression of emotions.

"I just have one question," Jarod said, having observed the entire scene from the doorway, "if you're Debbie Broots, why do you go by Betty?" Parker pulled slightly back, curious herself.

"It's what I've been going by since my dad died, since- well, since I moved in with you guys."

Both Jarod and Parker looked confused. Jarod couldn't resist asking, "Why?"

"_Betty!" a tiny brunette wadled over. The blonde looked down at the toddler and smiled, "Good morning, Kate." She said as she scooped her up. _

_Parker walked over, looking the Kate in the eye, "Can you say Deh-bee?" she asked her daughter, pronouncing Debbie's name phonetically. _

"_Beh-tee!" Kate repeated, trying her best to imitate her mother. _

_Betty just laughed. "I don't mind, really. It's kind of cute." _

Betty shrugged, focusing back on the present.

"The girls couldn't say Debbie when they first started talking, so everyone started referring to me as Betty and eventually it just stuck."

Parker placed her hand on her little belly, suddenly knowing that she was going to like being a mother. A smile crept its way into her face. And as Jarod looked over at Parker, the smile on his face matched hers.

But reality suddenly hit Jarod again and he was worried for Parker's safety in that place. "You said you were going to tell us tonight why we can't get Parker out of the Centre yet."

Parker glared at Jarod, furious with him for ruining this moment for her, but he was right, this was something that needed to be dealt with.

Betty nodded. "Okay. Well, for starters we need someone inside the Centre. Someone has to keep tabs on what Lyle's doing." She turned to Parker, "I'm really sorry I blew my cover, the plan was for you to get out and I was to report to you, but now that's clearly not an option."

"And who made this plan?" Jarod asked.

"Parker and I did. She remembered that Mr. Parker had told her that he was giving a young girl a job as a favor to her father, who was a business associate of his or something, but the girl never showed. It turned out the girl had gone missing or something but we never found out exactly what happened to her because Parker left right after she found out that she was pregnant.

Anyhow, since I'm now on the Centre's hit list, there's no way I can just waltz in there and look up classified information. And it's not like you can go either Jarod because they would definitely recognize you too."

"But that still leaves the safety of Parker and our daughters in question. Is Tempus really all that important?"

Betty's whole demeanor changed. She suddenly reminded Jarod of Miss Parker when she was angry. "Tempus is everything. At this point, whether Parker stays or leaves, they're going to find out that she's pregnant. And those girls, Parker, and even you, Jarod, are not safe while Tempus is still in operation."

The sharp breath Parker took in at Jarod's name did not go unnoticed by Jarod.

* * *

**A/N:** I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I've worked really hard on it and have been back and forth with my beta over this one. I also have the next chapter almost completely finished, so hopefully I'll be able to post it very soon.

Thanks so much,  
Charlie


	12. Non Smoking and Finally Seeing

Ordinarily, she would ignore the burning hunger coming from the pit of her stomach. However, she figured that was probably a bad idea when you're pregnant. So, when Lyle suggested grabbing a bite to eat before they headed back to Delaware, she didn't protest.

Lyle pulled into the parking lot of the local greasy spoon in the most recent town, where Jarod had been supposedly seen. No clue, no Jarod, though. Not that she was surprised. She thought about objecting to his choice, but again, she simply couldn't ignore the hunger.

Sydney, Miss Parker, and Lyle stepped out of the car and walked up the steps of the restaurant.

Lyle opened the door and immediately the three of them were hit with the pungent smell of cigarette smoke.

"Smoking or nonsmoking?" the hostess asked politely.

The trio just looked at each other.

"Y'all aren't from around here, are ya?" the hostess inquired.

"Is it that obvious?" Sydney joked.

"We're one of the few states where it's still legal to smoke in restaurants. People from out of town are usually surprised when we ask."

Lyle smiled, disinterested. "We'll take non."

The two men started to follow the hostess, but when Sydney glanced over his shoulder, he saw Miss Parker frozen in her tracks.

Having not taken a breath since she'd stepped inside she was starting to feel the panic of needing oxygen. When she looked at Sydney, he saw tangible fear in her eyes. She murmured an "I can't" as she turned and ran for the door.

The door slammed against the side of the building as she came flying out, her momentum abruptly stopping at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the restaurant.

She already felt better, surrounded by the fresh air, but still felt the need to seat, heavily, on the bottom stair.

She couldn't believe how worried she was about her unborn babies. A few weeks ago they hadn't even existed. They were still _so_ tiny and yet she knew she couldn't bare anything happening to them. She couldn't sit in that smoke, not even if Lyle, Sydney, or the whole restaurant thought she was crazy. Although, if Lyle hadn't already taken notice of recent bout of strangeness, he surely would now.

"I can't do this." She told no one in particular. "I don't know why they think I can do this, because I can't. I can't do this."

"Do what?"

She whipped around. "Sydney!" _Thank God for small favors_.

He walked over and sat down next to her cautiously. "I told Lyle that the smoke bothers your ulcer."

She looked up at him, surprised. _Why would he do that?_

"That's what you told Mr. Broots, that you're ulcer has been bothering you, if I am correct?"

She nodded.

"Miss Parker," his tone was serious, "you were a smoker for years. I don't honestly believe it could cause such a severe reaction from you so quickly." He paused before adding, "That had nothing to do with your ulcer, did it?"

He put his hand up, cutting her off from whatever excuse she was about to spout. Seemed he knew her much too well. "Did your behavior today have something do with whatever Jarod is supposed to tell me?"

She attempted to swallow the lump in her throat.

She didn't answer him.

She didn't have to.

* * *

"You have to tell Sydney about the babies."

Jarod turned to look at Parker, who had just walked through the door and hadn't even taken her coat off yet. "What?"

"The other day after my doctor's appointment, I was still a little dazed and Sydney could tell. He's known something's been up for a while. So, I told him that you'd tell him."

"Tell him what?"

"Jarod, I'm pregnant." She said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"So you want me to tell him that you're pregnant?"

"Well, I just figured since the man practically raised you, that you should be the one to break it to him. I mean, I've known him since I was little, but you and Sydney have a unique relationship."

Parker had a point, Sydney had raised him since he was a young boy, but he'd known Parker almost as long. Jarod suspected she was just scared to say it. Still, he wasn't about to argue with her. "Okay, I'll tell him."

"Okay." She repeated.

Satisfied with the easy outcome of their discussion Parker began peeling off her coat and scarf and proceeded to hang them neatly.

"Parker, can I ask you something?"

She was little surprised by the suddenness of his inquiry, but saw nothing wrong with answering a question, "Okay."

"Do you know why Debbie – er, Betty, is really here?"

"Jarod, we've been over this, she's here to help us stop Tempus."

He sighed, not sure how Parker was going to take what he was about to say. He didn't want to upset her, but he needed to know. "She traveled back in time, but doesn't want to prevent something as major as the death of her father… whatever she's here to stop must be bigger than her father's death."

_Like yours?_ Parker suddenly thought, and then just as suddenly wished she hadn't. She shook her head, in a physical attempt to shake the thought from her head. "And you don't think Tempus is a big deal?"

"That's not what I'm saying."

"Then what are you saying Jarod?" She really didn't want to think about it anymore and had, almost without being aware, returned to her ice queen façade.

"I'm just saying that whatever the ramifications of Tempus are, they must be a pretty big deal and I don't know how we're supposed to help her stop them without knowing what they are."

"It's the future Jarod, the whole point of stopping Tempus is so no one finds out, okay?"

He knew she wanted him to drop the subject, but he couldn't, not yet. Beside, her avoidance only served to prove what he had already started suspect; she knew more than she was saying. "I think we should at least ask Betty."

"Jarod!" she closed her eyes, trying to keep her emotions in check. "Why is this so important to you?"

Jarod walked over to where she was standing so that there was only about a foot between them. "Because, Parker, this obviously has something to do with our children."

She sighed heavily, "Jarod, I think it has more to do with you."

"Me?" Jarod's surprise was apparent on his face, "What could it possibly have to do with me."

She put her face in her hands, torn between anger at herself for spilling the beans and relief to finally tell him. Though she knew telling him was probably a bad idea, it seemed she couldn't help it. Lying to Jarod, she had discovered, was something she had a hard time doing.

When she pulled her hands away, Jarod noticed that there were tears in her eyes. Instinctively he stepped forward and placed his hand on her arm in a reassuring gesture. She looked fragile, he noted, and scared. It was such an uncommon emotion to see in her eyes, that it surprised him greatly.

"Jarod, she's trying to stop Lyle from murdering you."

Nothing quite like her words, though. He dropped his hand and took a few stops back.

She stepped forward, "Jarod-"

He put his hand up and she stopped in her tracks. "How?"

"What?"

"How is he going to kill me?"

"Jarod, I don't see-"

This time she was interrupted by a voice from behind Jarod, "It's all on here."

They both turned to see Betty holding up a silver DSA. Jarod reached out for it and Betty walked it over to him. He took the DSA from her hand and immediately walked over to his DSA player.

Parker practically ran after him and just as he was about to place the DSA in she covered the slot with her hand. "Jarod! You don't want to see that."

His face looked angry, but his voice was kind as he spoke, "Parker, I need to know the circumstances if I want to stop this."

She didn't even try to prevent the tears from streaming down her cheeks this time as she pleaded, "Jarod, please don't."

He took her face in his hands. "Parker, I promise you, I'm not going to let anything happen to me. I want to see our girls grow up more than anything in the world, but in order for that to happen, I have to do this."

She nodded, knowing he was right. Parker stepped out of the way, silently debating whether or not she should even stay to watch this, if she'd even be able to. Her need to leave, however, was outweighed by her need to stay, for Jarod.

Everyone in the room could feel the heavy sense of foreboding lingering as the room was illuminated by the square screen and the disk began to play.

_"Psssst, Kate."_

_There was a purple night-light shining in the corner of the room, a soft glow that was just bright enough to make two twin beds visible against the walls, one on each side of the window, which was firmly closed. Each bed had a bundle hidden under thick covers._

_A little louder this time, the small voice repeated, "psssst, Kate. Did you hear that?" _

_An even smaller voice answered from the other bed. "Mhm-hmm." _

_A little girl sat up on one of the beds. She was around four or five years old, with what looked like would be dark hair, even in a lit room. "What should we do Kate?"_

_The girl in the other bed sat up as well, evidencing the same dark hair and similar delicate features. She seemed less sure than her companion and nervously pulled her blanket up tightly around her as she sat up, "I don't know, Maggie, but think one of us should go get mom and dad." _

_And with that, Kate jumped out from under her blanket and turned toward the door, bravely announcing, "I'll go." But before she could take even a step, a loud crash resounded through the house and startled them both. With wide eyes, Kate turned towards the window, finally showing herself scared. A bloodcurdling scream escaped her lips as a man dressed all in black came into the room through her now broken window. Before she could escape, he lunged across the room, swiftly wrapping his large arms around her small body. _

_Maggie had always been the shy one, the voice of reason, who felt content to let her sister handle all the fights, but now, it was Kate who needed help. Without thinking about it, she sleeked off her bed and sunk her teeth into the big man's leg. He didn't scream, but dropped Kate, who hit the ground with force. Forcibly, the mean man plucked Maggie off of his leg, picked her effortlessly up and handed her to another man just coming in from the window. _

_The man turned his attention back to a squirming Kate. "Maggie!" she squealed. _

_Maggie yelled back, desperately trying to break free. "Kate!"_

_That moment, Jarod burst into the room. In a flurry of movement, Jarod rushed over to the man holding his daughter; faster than the eye could follow, the intruder found himself on the floor. Maggie, eyes big and filled with fear, stood by his side, holding on tightly to his shirt._

"_Daddy!" Maggie shrieked, the panic desperate in her voice, "Kate." She turned toward the window, through which the still conscious man was trying to take his other daughter out of. _

_Just before Kate was completely out of the window and out of view, Jarod grabbed her ankle. "Daddy", she yelped. _

"_Let go." Jarod demanded, a frightening look on his face. _

_Instead of an answer, or a comply, the only thing Jarod received in return was the loud gunshot; Jarod flew backwards, landing on his back. He was trying to say something, but all that could be heard were incoherent gurgles and grunts. _

_Maggie and Kate cried out in unison, "Daddy!"_

_Jarod tried to get up, but fell limply backwards. _

_Kate disappeared completely into the darkness a second before Parker came flying into the room, gun drawn. The fierce look on her face faltered, as she saw Jarod lying on the ground, surrounded by a pool of blood. She knelt beside him. A flashback of Tommy, lying on her porch, against her house and all that blood assaulted her suddenly. She could smell that same humid morning odor mixed with the tangy smell of blood. _

_But this wasn't Thomas, again, this was Jarod. This was her Jarod. Her chest constricted. _

"_Kate!" Maggie's scream brought Parker fully back into reality. A quick glance around the room and then she saw her daughter, Maggie, leaning out of the second-story window. She quickly went to her and pulled her away from the ledge, fearing a fall. Maggie resisted initially, but once she turned her head and spotted her father lying on the ground, she let her mother pull her away. Disentangling herself, the little girl ran towards her father. _

_Eyes sharp, Parker looked out from the bedroom window, calling out for her missing daughter, "Kate!" She pointed her 9mm into the dark, but couldn't risk firing for fear that she would hit her daughter. Tires screeched on the pavement and Parker saw the back end of a black Centre-issued sedan drive off into the night. Then there was only darkness. "Kate." Her breathing hitched and her eyes watered as the reality of it all came crashing down on her. Parker pleaded with the night, "Katie!"_

_Hearing her mother's desperate pleas and not knowing what to do, Maggie tried shaking her daddy awake; mom needed him! "Daddy, please. Wake up!" She begged. _

_Betty stepped into the once peaceful bedroom that now looked like a war zone. She slowly took in her surroundings, her heart pounding heavily against her chest. "I thought I heard gunshots-", anything she could have said faltered at the sight of Jarod on the floor and her hand flew up to her mouth, "Oh my god!" _

_Parker noticed Betty enter the room, but she didn't look up; she couldn't. A fog had descended over her eyes, making them look glassy and unfocused. Her family! Ripped apart in a few minutes and nothing she could do about it... It was enough to break the strongest of hearts._

_Trembling, Betty saw Parker in a state of shock, then turned her attention to the two empty beds. Kate! Maggie! Kate was nowhere to be found, but Maggie was there, kneeling at her father's unmoving body and begging him to get up. She walked over to the girl. "Come on, Sweetie." It didn't take a doctor to see Jarod was dead..._

_There was so much blood._

_Betty tried and tried to pick the young girl up, but Maggie did not want to go. The little girl was kicking and screaming, "No! Daddy! No! Wake up!!" _

_Her daughter's scream helped dissipate some of the fog and Parker employed every last fiber of strength she still had just to get up off that floor. "Maggie," the forlorn tone in her voice broke Betty's heart, "look at me." Parker said, eerily calm, as she lifted her daughter's chin gently, tears streaming down both their faces. "I need you to go with Betty right now, okay?"_

_Maggie nodded hesitantly. She wanted to stay with her mom and with her dad, but she had never seen mother cry before and she knew better than to object to her firm request. Betty picked up a more willing Maggie and wrapped her arms protectively around the little girl as tightly as she could. _

_Parker turned back to Jarod. Her heart felt like it was being ripped into tiny little pieces and she felt a hard, hollow feeling developing in the back of her throat. Tiredly, Parker dropped to her knees beside her husband. With gentleness, she pulled Jarod's head into her lap and pressed a hand to his neck. She didn't want to believe it, but she needed proof. Hard evidence that he was really gone._

"_Oh Jarod," she whispered, shakily. _

_The first sob racked through her body as she closed his eyes with her fingers, leaving traces of his own blood in the form of fingerprints on his eyelids. "I... love you." Parker leaned down and gently placed her lips upon his. The first sob was followed by another and another until she was shaking uncontrollably and holding on to him. _

_She sobbed until the pain hurt too much. _

* * *

**A/N:** Okay, so I know this ending was kinda sad, but it gets better. I'd love to know what you think of this and what your looking forward to finding out. Thanks so much for reaading!

-Charlie


End file.
